1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer peripherals. More specifically, the present invention relates to the networking of printers.
2. Description of Related Art
Two types of printersxe2x80x94stand alone and networkedxe2x80x94are currently available for computer systems and other devices utilizing hard copy output. The stand-alone printer is connected directly to a port of the computer system for which it is utilized and is often located physically near the computer system. Such a printer, though easy to monitor and control due to its proximity and direct connectivity to the computer system, cannot be shared. Historically, with a computer such as a mainframe or server, there has always been one printer or a single set of printers, somewhat remotely located which were shared by multiple clients connected to that mainframe or server. More recently as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networked (WANs) of many stand-alone computer systems (rather than dumb clients of a mainframe) became more commonplace, the networking of a single or single set of printers to service many computers at once became widespread.
In traditional networked printers, a single printer (or set of printers) is frequently connected through a central server which administered many different stand-alone computer systems. In other cases, where there is no central server, the individual workstations perform the server functions. The user of any one computer system must select the printer that they wish to use, or can be assigned a default printer during setup of the computer system by an administrator. In any case, the user can choose (or leave to a default) the printer used when sending a job over the network. The user also chooses all the parameters, such as print image quality, speed, color or black and white etc., after which the job is sent. If the print job is successful, the user can go to the printer and pick up the print job. However, if there is an error or the printer is busy processing a job from a second user, the user will be notified. Printer errors such as xe2x80x9cPrinter out of paperxe2x80x9d are typical in the case of traditional so-called networked printers. At this point of error, the user either fix the printer error where the networked printer is located and adding paper in case of a xe2x80x9cPrinter out of paperxe2x80x9d type message or cancel the current job and resend the job to a different printer.
Currently, there is no networked printer and/or server that will allow the user to merely select certain parameters of importance to the job, such as quality and speed without concern of which printer on the network will best suit his needs. Further current networked printers and print servers do not automatically re-route jobs to other printers when there is a printer error, nor keep track of and utilize the physical location of particular printers for the convenience of the user. When the user selects a printer on the network, he must know where that printer is and make decisions which the user should not need to make.
Thus, there is a need for offering a truly networked printer and server solution where the user needs choose only job-relevant parameters such as the quality, speed, dithering, etc. of the job and not have to choose which printer to print to. Further, when a printer error occurs, there is a need to automatically ensure that the job is printed without the user having to choose a different printer or figure out where the closest printer matching his job needs is located.
The present invention is a networked printing solution which minimizes the necessity of user interaction in the printing process.
A virtual printer, as part of a client generating a print job, receives preferences from a user regarding the print job such as image quality and/or speed. The virtual printer automatically determines which printer of the printers on the network comply with the print job preferences. The virtual printer then selects an appropriate printer which complies with the preferences and is located physically near the user/client. The virtual printer sends the print job to the selected printer and waits until the job is complete before notifying the user that the print job is complete and of the location of the selected printer. If an error signal is returned by the selected printer, the virtual printer automatically selects a different printer closely complying with said preferences.
Alternatively, a server connected to the network may perform the computations necessary to select an appropriate printer. The server may also be capable of spooling the print job from the client. The server may also store and update databases cataloging the capability of printers on the network and keep the status of printers on the network. The server may also confirm a mapping of the physical locations of all printers and/or clients on the network.